The Krewe of Neptune has announced their 2018 grand marshal for the Neptune Parade.After ending the last season in an interim role, Luke is the new head football coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. The Neptune Parade will be held in downtown Biloxi on February 10th beginning at 5:30 p.m.The parade route begins on the corner of Main Street and Esters Boulevard traveling south to Highway 90 and heading towards city hall.If you can’t make it out then tune into WXXV 25 on Fox that day, we’ll broadcast the parade live starting at 6 p.m. Continue Reading

FAYETTEVILLE -- The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville escaped with a 73-72 victory Sunday at Walton Arena, stopping the Ole Miss Rebels' fourth-quarter comeback attempt for its first SEC women's victory of the season. "This is a really big confidence booster for us," Razorbacks (10-4, 1-0) guard Devin Cosper said. "They picked us to finish last in the SEC, and we're just going to use that to our advantage." Cosper had her sixth double-double of the season, scoring 18 and grabbing 11 rebounds. She also hit a three-pointer to stop an Ole Miss run, but it was guard Malica Monk who came away with the biggest play of the night. Ole Miss (10-4, 0-1) guard Alissa Alston tried to bounce an inbound pass off the back of Arkansas forward Taylah Thomas with five seconds left, but Monk reached in and stole the ball to secure the victory. "I'll be danged if she didn't go out there and get that steal," Arkansas Coach Neighbors said. Monk's late-game heroics could have been avoided, but the Hogs surrendered a 12-point lead heading into the fourth and saw it evaporate after the Rebels scored 11 consecutive behind guards Madinah Muhammad and Alston and center Shelby Gibson. "We just stayed persistent in what we were doing the whole game, and they did a good job of guarding it, but we wore them down a little bit. We're able to get some things going toward the rim and get to the free-throw line," Ole Miss Coach Matt Insell said. Arkansas, which had led the majority of the game, began to struggle with the Rebels' full-court pressure and size as the Razorbacks picked up three fouls and three turnovers early in the fourth quarter. Neighbors picked up a technical foul with 7:25 left in the game, which added to the Rebels' comeback and caused the coach some worry, he said. "You always do as a coach when it starts looking like a one- or two-point game and you know you've probably cost your team a couple of points," Neighbors said about the technical. "I did worry about it. If we had lost Continue Reading

Michigan is interested in a few Ole Miss Rebels. As speculation continues to build over whether or not prized Ole Miss quarterback Shea Patterson will wind up in Ann Arbor as a transfer, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh spent some time Tuesday with one of Patterson's Rebel teammates. Safety Deontay Anderson, the player who first petitioned Ole Miss and the Southeastern Conference for immediate transfer eligibility in the wake of the school's NCAA sanctions, shared a photo of a lunch he had Tuesday with Jim Harbaugh via his SnapChat account. More: QB Shea Patterson hits transfer market, Michigan reportedly in the mix An All-SEC freshman second-team player (Athlon) as a true freshman in 2016, Anderson — from Manvel, Texas — voluntarily sat out the 2017 season as a redshirt after Ole Miss received NCAA sanctions. He has since obtained the services of an attorney and has claimed he was misled by Ole Miss' athletic department during his recruitment as it relates to the severity of the program's rule violations and the subsequent penalties that would follow. More: Michigan football will play South Carolina in the Outback Bowl Ole Miss was hit with NCAA sanctions on Friday that featured bowl bans for both the 2017 and 2018 seasons as well as probation (through 2020), scholarship reductions and fines. The NCAA has reportedly allowed all Ole Miss' rising seniors to transfer without an eligibility penalty due to the sanctions. Meaning they won't have to sit out a season. Anderson and Patterson, who did play in seven games this season before going down with an injury, are both seeking a way around that rule with hopes of becoming immediately eligible. More: Michigan's Brandon Peters (concussion) to begin bowl prep as No. 1 QB A 6-foot-2, 203-pounder from Toledo by way of IMG Academy, Patterson was the No. 1-ranked pro-style quarterback in the country in 2016. As a sophomore, he Continue Reading

Today is Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, and this is your CL NOW! newsletter.The Egg Bowl was a week ago but the Ole Miss Rebels and Mississippi State University Bulldogs are still dominating headlines.One school has a reason to smile for the exposure, the other campus not so much.We’ll get to that in a bit. But water cooler talk can’t just be about sports, so let’s broaden our horizons with some other news first.If at first you don’t succeed, sue. Cleveland resident Zundria Crawford has been in court lately, just likely not in the way she wanted. The aspiring lawyer has sought to file a lawsuit against the Board of Bar Admissions over a failed bar exam she believes she actually passed. Judges haven’t really gone for that though. The state Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision to throw her case out. Jimmie Gates has the story of how she’s back for round two.What makes a mother? The Mississippi Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case centered on parental rights that can have far-reaching consequences. Jeff Amy has a breakdown to catch you up to speed.Not a letter you want to receive: The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to the Mississippi Department of Human Services letting the agency know it was under investigation for a number of possible offenses. And as Anna Wolfe reports, “Mississippi could have to pay back millions.”Bells are ringing in Starkville for new head football coach Joe Moorhead, literally. If you’re need of your daily dose of clanga! —because Moorcowbell am I right? —, watch the Bulldog family herald Moorhead’s arrival.How you know you’re special: MSU’s Athletic Director John Cohen said he spoke to around 120 people for the coaching job, before tapping Moorhead as his guy. Check out more highlights from Moorhead’s official press conference introduction here.The NCAA gave Ole Miss its 24-hour notice today. Depending on how you look Continue Reading

An Ole Miss Rebel has won the C Spire Conerly Trophy for the second year in a row.Receiver A.J. Brown accepted the annual award, given to Mississippi's best collegiate football player, Tuesday night at the Jackson Hilton.The award put an exclamation mark on a record-setting season for the sophomore from Starkville, who probably wrapped up the award by catching six passes for 167 yards and a touchdown in Ole Miss' 31-28 win over Mississippi State in last week's Egg Bowl. More: A.J. Brown's return to Starkville results in Ole Miss reclaiming the Egg Bowl trophy Already a semifinalist for the 2017 Biletnikoff Award — given annually to the nation's best receiver — Brown is also the single-season Ole Miss record holder in receiving yards with 1,252. He tied the school record for touchdown catches with 11.Brown said he walked past a photo of that record's previous owner Laquan Treadwell, every day in Ole Miss' Manning Center."Every day I saw it during the summer I would say 'Sorry, but you're coming down,'" he said. "It made me work a lot harder, and since I've broken his records, it's just second nature that I'll come back next year and try to break my own."Brown received 3,479 votes from fans, which counted for 10 percent of the final tally. Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald finished second with 3,207 votes and Alcorn State running back De'Lance Turner was third with 1,822 votes. A panel of statewide sports media representatives decides the remaining 90 percent of the award.Brown is the seventh Ole Miss player to take home the trophy, and the second pass-receiver after former Rebel tight end Evan Engram was the award in 2016.Brown edged Fitzgerald, who went into the Egg Bowl leading the SEC in yards rushing for a quarterback, with 968 yards on the ground in 11 games. He also had thrown for 1,770 yards, 15 touchdowns and 10 Continue Reading

With the resignation of Hugh Freeze as Ole Miss' football coach, the school has named Matt Luke as the interim coach. So who is Matt Luke? He's an Ole Miss man. Luke grew up in Gulfport, Miss., and played for the Rebels from 1995-98, starting 33 games at center. He was the team captain in 1998 and was on the Academic All-SEC team. What qualified him to be the next coach?Luke has been on the Rebels' staff for 10 years, the past six as the offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator.He helped develop Laremy Tunsil and Fahn Cooper into NFL players, with Tunsil going 13th overall to the Miami Dolphins in the 2016 draft and Cooper a fifth round pick by the San Francisco 49ers, also in 2016.Ole Miss’ offense led the SEC in scoring last season and was third in total offense.Athletics director Ross Bjork called Luke a leader and "a rock.""He's an Ole Miss Rebel," Bjork said. "And I am confident — especially even more confident after watching him address the team — that he will lead this team and program through this difficult time." Where did he coach before Ole Miss?He started as an offensive line coach at Murray State in 2000-01 before going back to Ole Miss to coach tight ends under David Cutcliffe.In 2006, Luke went to Tennessee, where he coached tight ends and was the recruiting coordinator. He then re-joined his old boss Cutcliffe at Duke, from 2007-11 as offensive coordinator. The Blue Demons offense put up some of the best numbers it had in two decades and he helped mold offensive lineman Laken Tomlinson into an NFL draft pick. Continue Reading

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Three keys and a prediction for Kentucky football’s game against Ole Miss:When Ole Miss lost starting quarterback Shea Patterson, the Southeastern Conference’s leading passer, to a season-ending injury, many may have expected Ole Miss’ offense to take a step back. Instead, Kentucky faces an equally, if not more difficult, challenge in quarterback Jordan Ta’amu.“The narrative of, ‘Oh, you’re playing a backup quarterback,’ throw that out the window, because we’ve all seen backups come in and play better than the starter a lot of the time,” UK coach Mark Stoops said. “And I’m not saying any knock on Shea, because I think he’s one of the best players in the league. I just think what this guy can do, what Jordan can do with his arm and his legs and what they do offensively, I think there’s going to be zero drop-off.”Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald torched Kentucky with 115 rushing yards and two touchdowns in a blowout loss two weeks ago. Ta’amu threw for 368 yards and rushed for 76 more with two touchdowns last week against Arkansas. Kentucky has to do better against a dual-threat quarterback than it did against Mississippi State. MORE: Mitch Barnhart wants more stability in Kentucky football program. Mark Stoops contract could help MORE: Quinton Bohanna flew under the radar in high school – now he's UK's starting nose guard Simply put, Ole Miss’ defense is awful.The Rebels rank last in the SEC in scoring defense (37.5 points per game), rushing defense (260.5 yards per game) and total defense (467.5 yards per game). Meanwhile the Ole Miss offense leads the league in passing yards per game (338.1). Even without Patterson, Kentucky’s defense has its work cut out for it. The Wildcat offense needs to do its part.Yes, Ole Miss scored just three points against Alabama and 16 against California, but it Continue Reading

Seven years after asking fans to embrace a new mascot, Ole Miss wants spectators to indulge a new creature on the field — a Landshark.Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter announced in an open letter Friday that the landlocked predator will replace Rebel the Bear.Vitter said the goal is to unveil the new mascot by the 2018 season. More: Ole Miss students endorse landshark as new mascot in vote He reiterated that the name for the university’s athletics teams remains the Ole Miss Rebels.The Rebels football team plays the Auburn Tigers Saturday and athletic director Ross Bjork said that the bear’s retirement is effective immediately, meaning the mascot will not be present for the game. More: Kellenberger: 3 things about Ole Miss dumping Rebel the Black Bear for a landshark More: Someone in Congress edited landshark's Wikipedia page to include Ole Miss The decision to oust Rebel the Bear follows a student government-led poll where 81 percent of more than 4,100 respondents endorsed the Landshark as the school’s new mascot.At the time, university officials said the vote was non-binding and advisory in nature.A week later, the chancellor’s office made the announcement that Rebel the Bear was out.“The results of the Landshark poll confirm the sentiments that Ross and I have heard since arriving on campus — that the Landshark and 'Fins Up' have become synonymous with the positive spirit and strength of our athletics program and the 'Never Quit' attitude of Rebel Nation,” Vitter wrote.The Ole Miss Athletics Department will be charged in large part with developing and designing the mascot. They could also face the task of wooing traditionalists who favor Colonel Reb. That mascot, often likened to the caricature of a Confederate plantation owner, was retired from the field in 2003 amid the university’s efforts to distance the campus from Old South symbolism.Vitter said stakeholders, including Continue Reading

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Ole Miss pulled off the NCAA Tournament's first big comeback. Against the team that's known for the biggest one of all, no less. Stefan Moody scored 26 points and led Mississippi's comeback from a 17-point halftime deficit to a 94-90 victory over BYU on Tuesday night in the First Four. RELATED: PRINTABLE NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET The Rebels (21-12) trailed until Moody led a 15-2 run midway through the second half. He hit a late 3-pointer that helped finish it off. "Welcome to March Madness!" Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy said. It was some way to get it going. Ole Miss goes to Jacksonville, Florida, to play sixth-seeded Xavier on Thursday afternoon in the East Region, a team that Kennedy knows well from his days as a coach at Cincinnati. RELATED: NCAA TOURNAMENT: BREAKING DOWN THE EAST REGION BYU (25-10) pulled off the biggest comeback in NCAA Tournament history in Dayton three years ago, rallying from a 25-point first-half deficit to a 78-72 win over Iona in the First Four. This time, the Cougars couldn't hold the big lead. "This game will sting for quite a while," coach Dave Rose said. "It was pretty similar to (three) years ago when we were here." Tyler Haws, a senior guard who is BYU's all-time leading scorer, had 33 points but missed a 3-pointer as BYU tried to catch up in the closing seconds. It was the first time this season that the Cougars lost after leading by 17 points. "We did enough offensively to win the game," Haws said. "We found our rhythm in the first half and got it going. It got away from us in the second half. We didn't really have any answers for them defensively." Haws had 19 points in the first half, helping the Cougars pull ahead 49-32. Moody got the Rebels' guard-driven offense going midway through the second half, when three BYU players picked up their fourth fouls and things opened up near the basket. "Definitely a sense of Continue Reading

Middle Tennessee coach Rick Insell jokes he didn’t realize he had so many family and friends, at least not until he and his son got a second chance at women’s basketball history. Thanks to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, Rick’s Blue Raiders (23-9) will host his son Matt and the Ole Miss Rebels (19-13) on Thursday night in the third round in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. “We’re going to have anywhere from 150 to 200 people that are cousins and just close, close friends,” Rick Insell said. “This is the negative I got out of the whole thing. I’m having to buy Matt’s buddies and friends’ tickets. He should be doing that.” It is believed that when the Insells met the first time, a Blue Raiders’ 71-65 victory over Ole Miss in November, that it was the first father-son coaching matchup in Division I women’s basketball. “The women’s game is not as old as the men’s game,” Rick Insell said. “I’d say it’s going to happen more and more before it’s all said and done.” Fathers and sons coaching against each other is nothing new to men’s college basketball. Louisville coach Rick Pitino got his second chance to beat his son Richard in November, and some of the earliest games even featured Middle Tennessee with Ed Diddle Jr. losing 11 of 12 games against Western Kentucky teams coached by his father, Ed, between 1957 and 1962. Dads have dominated. According to research by the Louisville Cardinals, dads have won 16 of 18 matchups against their sons. Matt Insell is trying to make it at least 1-1 on the women’s side. Both father and son are seizing the family angle to promote a game that stands out even on the busy March tournament schedule with a big crowd expected Thursday night. Middle Tennessee even took out a full-page newspaper ad touting “Family Feud II” and Continue Reading